Borhat Tea Estate

The name ‘Borhat’ originated from the local word ‘bor’ meaning large and ‘haat’ meaning market. It is said that during the reign of the Ahom dynasty, there used to be a big weekly market held every Sunday near a pond called ‘Raja Pukhuri’, which still exists next to the estate’s section 20RE. The Nagas and Arunachali tribes residing in the neighboring hills frequented the market. Eventually, the Borhat Township grew around this thriving market.The estate is 18 km away from Namroop, a town which is an industrial hub. Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation, Assam Petrochemicals and Thermal Power Plant of ASEB have their plants here.

Historical Landmarks

The Borhat Tea Estate is said to have been established in 1880 and was under the ownership of The Borhat Tea Company.

Sustained efforts over the years bore a handsome fruit in 1995 when, the tea estate listed its highest produce of estate tea amounting to 12.38 lakh kg. In 2008, the estate made a record 9.28 lakh kg of tea from purchased leaf.

Plantation Stats

Mature Area

503.18 hectares

Immature Area

55.54 hectares

Total Tea Area

558.72 hectares

Annual production of estate produced leaf tea (2013-2014)

9.40 lakh kg

VP Nursery

1.74 hectares

Land under khetland

160.76 hectares

Land used for Aquaculture

14.75 hectares

Total Tea Production

15.81 lakh Kilograms

Total Estate Area

1213.69 hectares

Note of Interest

The famous historical road “Dhodar Ali” goes through the estate connecting Golaghat to Jaypur in Dibrugarh. The Ahom King Gadadhar Singha, commissioned the constructed of this road around 1687. It was named “Dhodar Ali” because the King had employed dhods (‘dhod’ in Assamese means lazy) and opium addicts to build it.

Garden Produce & Production Facility

The tea estate has the capacity to produce 9.40 lakh kilograms of tea from estate plucked leaf. The plucking season here, begins in March, runs through the rest of the year and ends in December.

Fresh green tea leaves from the garden are plucked and processed in the factory which has the capacity to produce 16 lakh kilograms of CTC and Orthodox tea and is located within the estate. Quality and uniformity in production is of paramount importance to the estate. Packing is done manually in food grade certified packing materials for the following recommended grades.

People Welfare Commitments

The Borhat Tea Estate has 1097 permanent employees and during the peak season, it employs an additional 1025 temporary workers. The estate provides 709 labour quarters to accommodate its workforce. The estate has 37 staff members and its total population is 4888.

The worker’s welfare is important to the estate and it has undertaken various initiatives to look after their health and community development. The estate has one Medical Officer, two Welfare Officers, Paramedical Staff, other staff members and workers, all of whom work together to ensure success for the Welfare Team. With the active involvement of Management Staff and extensive communication programmes, there has been a marked change in the estate’s welfare achievements in the last few years.

Healthcare

To safeguard their health and hygiene, scientifically designed drains have been built to remove sewage from the labour lines.

The estate has one centrally located hospital closed to the labour colonies to provide medical service to its employees. The estate also carries out preventive immunisation as per government.

Education

The estate runs 3 lower, 1 ME school and 8 Anganwadi centres to take care of the educational development and welfare needs of the children.

Community Development

The estate has an Estate Employee Council and dedicated link workers who look into facilitating participation of the workers in various estate organised programmes. The estate also organizes lab to land programs in the neighbouring villages to create harmonious relationship and uplift of the Poor Rural Community. Packed rations issued to the workers to improve their quality of life and to provide them with better standards of living. The estate has a labour club and a staff club to cater to the recreational needs of its employees. The estate also has a crèche.

The estate has a mahila mandal comprising of 20 members who are responsible for creating awareness on women and child care. ‘Junaki & Jagriti’, a 22 member self help group, prepares food for sale in the local market.

Environmental Commitments

Borhat Tea Estate has endeavoured to keep its commitments towards protecting the environment and contributing in its own way to sustain nature.

Electricity

To conserve electricity, the estate uses to solar powered lights for its fishery ponds and CFL for other purposes.

Wastage Policy

All chemical and hospital waste materials are disposed on a yearly basis to government certified agencies.

Soil Control

Soil analysis is done on a yearly basis at the R&D section of Teok Tea Estate. Manures applied in the plantation are as per their recommendations.The application of bio fertilizers has been implemented to reduce the application of inorganic fertilizers which cause environmental hazards.